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A magnificent talent was almost destroyed by social prejudice masked as "care." Artist Judith Scott, whose art now hangs in the Museum of Modern Art, was locked away in an institution for 35 years.

Her twin sister, Joyce Scott, tells the true story of her journey to help free her sister in her new book, Entwined. Judith was born in 1943 with an intellectual disability. Her story is a profound lesson in moral courage. It shows the power of one compassionate individual to act. It demonstrates how each of us can work to shift society in a positive, caring direction.

Grey skies did not deter the hundreds of people who marched together through Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside (DTES) to celebrate the installment of the Survivors Totem Pole at Pigeon Park, Saturday, November 5.

Carved out of a 1000-year-old 27-foot cedar tree by community members of the DTES, the Survivors Totem Pole is a symbol of community survival, resistance, persistence, and inclusion.

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Last Saturday afternoon, 60 people cut the lock to the gates of the Muskrat Falls hydroelectric project work site, TheIndependent.ca reported. The independent news site's editor, Justin Brake, closely documented protest activity at the site over the past week.

On October 17, 17 immigration detainees at Central East Correctional Centre in Lindsay, Ontario began refusing food, just two months after nearly 60 immigration detainees in two Ontario facilities ended a 19-day hunger strike protesting the indefinite detention of migrants.

The hunger strike is the third of its kind this year, and detainees' demands remain unchanged: an end to indefinite detention of migrants with a 90-day limit on detentions as an interim measure.

A historic caravan of migrant agricultural workers completed a 1,500 kilometre journey to Ottawa to deliver a clear and pointed message to members of Parliament -- "We want permanent immigration status now!"

The caravan launched on Sept. 3 in Leamington, Ontario (Canada's tomato capital) has made stops to cities and towns across southern Ontario. Workers have been sharing not only their demands, but personal stories of exploitation and injustice under Canada's Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program (SAWP), a federal program now in its 50th year.

On Sunday morning in Toronto, community members and supporters welcomed the caravan with a rally at the Ontario Food Terminal, a place where the fruits of migrant labour are bought, sold and profited from.

It was a splendid afternoon in late summer and everyone was smiling. The happy occasion was the inauguration of the Parc Madeleine-Parent in Saint-Henri, just south and west of central Montréal.

Trade unionist, feminist, independentist, pacifist, Madeleine Parent has her park thanks to the determination of the citizens of a working-class district where, in 1943, she started her career as a union organizer at Merchant Cotton (Dominion Textile).

The focus of the celebration shifted this year from elders to children, a move that's not only part of a four-year cycle of change but also symbolizes looking to the future.

"We're big supporters of Standing Rock. I think it ties in so nicely with the powwow because that's what they're standing up for -- it's the future generations," said Patrick Smith with Culture Saves Lives.

Pressures for affordable housing continue to rise in Vancouver as the city saw two housing rallies take place over the weekend.

The first drew a crowd of 50 activists on Friday, who gathered outside of Vancouver's City Hall to demand that affordable housing be made a priority in the municipality. The rally was organized by COPE, the Coalition of Progressive Electors, which calls for investments in co-ops and social housing, zoning for rent controls and enforcement of health standards in buildings.

Solidarity demonstrators gathered outside of the United States consulate in Toronto yesterday morning to support the Standing Rock Sioux community protesting the Dakota Access Pipeline.

Members of the Dakota and Lakota nations established the Sacred Stone encampment near the confluence of the Missouri and Cannonball rivers to protest the pipeline, a $3.8 billion project that extends through Indigenous burial grounds.